Do feminists use quantitative methods? a Content Analysis of ‘Women’s Studies’ Journals

1. Do feminists use quantitative methods?a Content Analysis of ‘Women’s Studies’ Journals Rachel Cohen, Christina Hughes, Richard Lampard

2. Study outline • Preliminary analysis of articles published in gender, women’s studies and feminist journals. • Journals selected from ISI citation index (‘Women’s Studies’ category). Top cited journals (English language), plus selected others with ‘feminist’/’feminism’ in title. • Analysis of every full article in first and last issue of 2007 (unless ‘Special Issue’, then next issue chosen). • Current N = 256 articles from 19 journals. • Future project – extend this historically.

3. Journals included in the study Journals included N articles • Gender and Society 11 • Women's Health Issues 13 • Gender, Work and Organisation 9 • Feminist Review 16 • Feminist Studies 12 • Gender, Place and Culture 14 • Women's Studies International Forum 14 • Violence Against Women 12 • Psychology of Women Quarterly 19 • Social Politics 10 • Journals included N articles • European Journal of Women's Studies 9 • Journal of Gender Studies 11 • Women and Health 13 • Feminism and Psychology 11 • Sex Roles 24 • Journal of Aging 11 • Feminist Economics 9 • Signs 12 • Journal of Women’s Health 26 • Total 256

4. Overview of methodological approaches in Women’s Studies articles.

5. Overview of feminist engagement in Women’s Studies articles.

6. Variation by journal (discipline?) • Exemplar quantitative journals: • Women’s Health Issues: 92% Quantitative, 8% mixed • Psychology of Women Quarterly: 84% Quant, 16% mixed • Feminist Economics: 67% Quant, 33% Theoretical • Exemplar non-quantitative journals • Feminist Review: 92% Qualitative, 8% Mixed • Gender, Place and Culture: 57% Qual, 36% Theoretical, 7% Quant • Feminism and Psychology: 73% Qual, 18% Theoretical, 9% Quant

7. Framing of publication spaces and methodological choice

8. Geographic base and methodological choice

9. Logistic Regression of quantitative methods use (summary) • The following increased the likelihood of quantitative methods being used: • US author affiliation • Publishing in a journal with ‘women’ identification • Male second author (first, third and fourth authors have no significant influence!) • Absence of methodological justification • The following decreased the likelihood of quantitative methods being used: • Publishing in a journal with ‘feminist’, ‘women studies’ or ‘gender’ identification • Engagement with feminist literature (note: this accounted for all of an initial effect of explicit feminist positioning) • Either feminist, transformative or ‘other’ methodological justification

10. Do feminists count? • Published articles on women, gender and feminism do employ quantitative methods. • But those published in explicitly feminist/gender studies journals that engage most thoroughly with the feminist literature rarely do. • Moreover, even when quantitative methods are used by feminists, explicitly ‘feminist’ methodological justifications for using quantitative methods are not given. • [Geography and discipline matter...]